Category Archives: Discussion

Some anime are short – too short – and we wish they had more episodes. But, then there are anime that seem to never end. You know which anime I’m talking about. The latter are the ones that truly annoy me. For example, “Inuyasha,” “Bleach” and “Pokémon” are all shows that continue on and on for X number of seasons. You’d think they were “Power Rangers” or something, always coming out with the next big “new” and less and less entertaining thing.

Article by Arturo Compean

Image courtesy of wikia.nocookie.net

Inuyasha

“Inuyasha” is an anime based on the manga by Rumiko Takahashi. The manga ran from 1996 to 2008 – 14 years of 56 volumes. The anime had its first run from 2000 to 2004 with 167 episodes. It was later picked back up in 2009 to finally finish the…

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Hi I’m Simon and by now you should know me. For a lack of a better greeting, I’m just gonna go with that. After weeks of wanting to write about KimiUso and time and time again not doing it – cause you know, gotta think it through – I’ve come to the conclusion that now is the time. If I forget anything or change my mind later on, shit happens, but I’m gonna burst if I don’t do it now.

I still don’t know whether I like this or not.

So, where to start. Let’s go with the obvious and most controverse part of the discussion, the ethical problem. If you’ve heard anything about KimiUso in the last weeks, chances are you know many people have a problem with how the show treats its main character, Kousei. I’m just gonna give you my thoughts on this, you’re welcome to comment if you want to voice your opinion but if you’re gonna bitch around either leave it or write your own post.

Please note, I’m including my experience with the manga as well.

Kouseis trauma is a completely valid reason not to want to play the piano anymore. Even if his “I can’t hear the music” thing is just imagination. It’s called a trauma for a reason. Not wanting to confront it is completely fine. If he chooses to run, he runs. If he chooses to go through therapy, good luck. But the way the show treats his trauma and twists and turns the reasons his mother did what she did and whose fault it is and so on is not only idiotic but harmful. If it was real life, that is. But it wouldn’t be anime if the fault wasn’t with the main character, because if it’s not, how is he going to improve himself? The argument that it is a show and as that for the purpose of entertainment only is, to be frank, a cop-out. Because if that was a valid point, it would make it impossible to take something more away from a show, movie, book or any other form of entertainment. If positive or negative. So if you’re gonna say that, you have to apply it to every other show too. Can’t do that? Don’t do it here, either. But instead of trying to deal with Kouseis trauma in an acceptable and constructive way is thrown out of the window because what, it’s more fun? Because Kaori has to be hyper? That’s crap, honestly. The show wouldn’t lose anything by not making Kaori an insensitive bitch. And Kousei reacts in a completely unnatural way too, because, even if he falls in love with her on first sight and blah blah… he’s not going to just go along with it anymore than if any other person had told him the same shit.

Well, enough with the bad stuff, on to the good stuff. The show is enjoyable. The manga even more so, in my opinion. The shows greatest strength is that you are able to immerse yourself in it. Well, maybe not as much if you watch it weekly, but that’s your choice. I had a pleasant experience reading the manga, even if most of it is just twisting reason and guilt around during the concerts. It’s light, fast reading but doesn’t feel nor look it. You can completely feel the tone intended by the author even if you are reading it extremely fast like I do. That’s the greatest weakness of the show, too, by the way. Cause you are unable to pace it to be most comfortable for you the way you would be with manga. Even if I didn’t write much here, the enjoyment is obviously one of the biggest reasons to like or dislike any show, manga or form of entertainment.

My final thoughts on both anime and manga are as follows. Both are enjoyable, so I will continue to watch and read KimiUso. Sadly, but rightfully so, the controverse stays in the back of my head as I’m watching/reading, which lessens the fun I’m having with it.

That’s it, if you want to tell me what you think about it please feel free to comment or send me a tweet @ nolazyway 😀

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Hi I’m Simon and today I have another Topic or whatever you want to call it to think about. Maybe it will help you to waste a few minutes of boredom away or to see your interests in a new light and find the next thing to read or watch.

Anyway, today’s discussion topic is to ask yourself, or others, what do you look for in an anime or manga? More precise, maybe, what makes you decide to read or watch something? To an extent, that includes the question of what makes an anime worth watching or what does it take for you to feel satisfied after finishing a manga? On the other hand you can twist the question and ask yourself, what keeps you away form something? Is there anything, that, upon discovery, makes you go “Ewww, how did I even consider watching this?” Anyway, enough with the questions, let’s consider the answers.

If you want to keep it short, you answer with your favorite genre. Or a favorite stereotype of a character. Simple as that. But if you decide to think a little further, you may stumble upon something more specific, like the question of the style of animation or drawings. Do you like a cute, light style like Ichigo 100% or a more realistic, heavy on the eyes style like Zetman? Or maybe it’s not in the style, but the tone of whatever you are reading or watching? Is it about a journey to kill the most evil person in the world, but with vibrant colours and idiotic jokes everywhere like every shonen out there or about the search for true love, but with drama, tragedy, death and betrayal around every corner like Unbalance X Unbalance? Maybe it’s something in between. Another thing is liking a specific kind of story, humour or tone and just going for that. Or you just don’t have preferences at all.

There is one last point I want to bring to your attention and make you think about: What does it take for you, to really try out an anime or manga that someone else recommended to you?

I, for one, have different answers to every one of those questions. In general, I tend to gravitate towards the darker, more serious shows, but I like the occasional comedy, as long as it doesn’t conflict with the characters and story. One thing I hate in particular is destroying a great, emotional, and important scene for the sake of comedy. Just cut to the ending, please. An eliminating factor for me is animation quality and that really old, cliché anime style. Which is why I often drop or don’t enjoy older shows as much as I would if they were better drawn or animated. I don’t have that problem with manga though, because I generally find manga more artistic than anime and better than its adaption. Maybe that’s because I draw myself (yes, really. no, not just single heads. actual pages with panels, pen and ink) and am able to appreciate all the work and ability a single person has to bring up for the finished work. And with that I’ll leave you 🙂

Please don’t hesitate to respond to me and voice your opinion, either here or on twitter @ nolazyway. If you like my content please consider following me 😀

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Hi I’m Simon and this is the first Topic I want to bring to your attention for the sake of starting a (hopefully friendly) discussion, or just to bring you my view on the topic.

The subject I picked is just as the title says, is an anime or manga really deep or just so stupid that it seems good again? I sometimes feel it hard to discern what is the case. I’m sure you stumbled upon something in the past where you couldn’t say if it contained really strong symbolism, sarcasm or is a genius deconstruction of the whole genre, or was just plain stupid.

I’ve read and heard opinions on the same series by people whose opinion I value and respect, often stating the complete opposite of one another. So how do you know which is which? Or is it even important that you know? Maybe as long as you like what you see, what does it matter if it was intended to be something else entirely? The answer to that is probably different for everyone and because of that completely beyond me.

I am completely against telling people what they should like or not and why they should or shouldn’t like it. But I strongly encourage people to know what they like something for. For example, someone likes a show I think is extremely stupid, I won’t mess with that, but I feel it’s important for them to know how it was intended and maybe like it despite that. I just can’t cope with people liking something for the wrong reason. Like seeing sarcasm where there is none. I hope that makes at least a little sense to you, since I’m not as eloquent as I’d like to be

Ever since I started thinking about this, some things occurred to me. First off, the easier explanation is probably true. Think about this: What is more probable, a series being stupid, or it being a statement packed as a series, a treasure chest of sarcasm and a wonderland created by writers, animators and producers carefully planning and working together to produce a flawless product? Second, know the background. Is it a shitty adaptation of a shitty game or is it a genius adaptation that goes against the whole franchise? Did the director that also did boobie-wonderland 1 through 4 and pantyshot-martial-arts-highschool-comedy suddenly turn into a sophisticated mastermind or is it just not as good as it seems? And last but not least, just because dialogue and plot make no sense doesn’t mean it’s so good you can’t understand it.

That’s pretty much all I have to say about this. If you want to respond to me, voice your opinion on this subject or feel the need to correct me, please comment or leave me a tweet.